LAYING
AUSTRALIAN AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
The bigger the tile, the more obvious any variations in
flatness will be. A tile can be well within the Australian
and International standards and still have variations in
flatness. This normally is no problem but when laying
500mm x 500mm tiles or larger it can show up in one
corner of a tile being slightly higher than the adjacent tile.
This is called “lipping”. This is especially obvious when
the tiles are of the “rectified” type which means they have
a square edge rather than a rounded or “cushion” edge.
These are four pieces of advice I have to minimise lipping.
All tiles sold by Beaumont Tiles are guaranteed to
comply with the relevant Australian and International
standards. This includes surface quality and
dimensional attributes.
First and most importantly, don’t lay large tiles in
“staggered” or “brick bond” pattern. If the tiles are prone
to lipping this will show it up immediately.
Second, the tiler needs to take special care when laying
very large tiles to match each tile to the next.
Third, there are special little devices to clamp the edges
of each tile at the same level while the adhesive sets. (The
tiler MUST use plenty of adhesive when using these). It is
worth asking the tiler to use these.
Fourth Use “non-slump” adhesive such as Ardex X10.
Sometimes the tiler does a perfect job of laying, only to
find the heavy tile has “sunk” a little into the adhesive
while it is setting. A non-slump adhesive stops this
happening.
All our tiles are guaranteed for:
•
•
•
Surface
Size variation
Flatness
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
porcelain tiles
FINALLY
We are always happy to stand behind our products. In
fact all our first grade tiles have a 10 year guarantee.
Because laying tiles is very expensive, we do,
however, ask that you inspect your tiles BEFORE they
are laid to ensure you are happy with them.
All the best
BOB BEAUMONT
Managing Director
TILES FROM CHINA
Some people say Chinese tiles are not as good as
others. My answer is that it doesn’t depend on the
country, it depends on the factory and Beaumont Tiles is
very careful who we get to make our tiles. All our tiles are
guaranteed to comply with Australian and International
Standards.
If you have any further questions, please don’t
hesitate to ask one of our friendly showroom staff.
BEAUMONT TILES IS A DIVISION OF RJ BEAUMONT & CO PTY LTD
ACN 007 703 997
© 2012 BEAUMONT TILES
tile.com.au
Expected variations in
porcelain tiles
A LITTLE BIT OF
ADVICE FROM
BOB BEAUMONT
Porcelain is a fantastic, tough and very durable product
that makes an ideal floor surface. It is easy to live with,
easy to clean and maintain and will look brilliant for many,
many years. Plus, of course, porcelain also has many
other benefits like all ceramic tiles.
• It is a natural heat bank.
• Child friendly.
• Asthma friendly.
• Does not give off CFCs
• Fireproof.
• Will last for years.
When a floor is tiled with polished porcelain, especially
in lighter tones, it adds a new dimension to any area of
our home or commercial building. Polished tiles reflect
light and make an area brighter, more inviting and create
an illusion of space. I have had porcelain tiles in houses
I have lived in over 20 years and I have not had one
problem with them. I would recommend them to anyone!
HOW DO THEY MAKE THEM SO SHINY?
SEALING AND CLEANING
Porcelain tiles are a very high quality variety of ceramic
which is so dense it can be polished by special polishing
stones to a very high finish. Beaumont tiles sells 3 main
types of porcelain tiles.
•
Normal
•
Glazed
•
Polished
Virtually all polished Porcelain tiles sold by Beaumont
Tiles are pre sealed with a very special penetrative
sealer to make them more resistant to staining. It is still,
important, however, to clean off any substance which is
likely to cause a stain promptly, as polishing and sealing
a tile does not make it as resistant to staining as a glazed
tile.
If the tile you choose is not pre sealed your consultant
will let you know. It is then important to seal the tiles
when they are laid and before they are grouted to avoid
problems with stains.
Most of the polished porcelains also come from the
factory with a layer of protective wax on the surface
of the tiles. This wax is normally water soluble and not
very hard to remove in fact most will be removed by the
grouting process. However some wax may still remain
on the tiles and therefore will need to be removed by
you, your tiler or a professional cleaner.
Normal porcelain tiles are a matt finish and are used in
very high traffic area or areas where anti-skid properties
are important. They can be made in matt or textured.
Glazed porcelain tiles are the most popular type of
porcelain tiles and are made by using a decorative and
super hard wearing glaze (which can be matt or gloss)
over the porcelain base.
Polished porcelain is simply normal porcelain which has
been polished.
WILL THEY BE PERFECTLY SHINY
LIKE A MIRROR?
No. Mirror is made in a very different way and can be
near perfect. Polished tiles (whether they are stone or
porcelain) are made by polishing the surface of the tile
with very hard fine grinding stones. As the polishing
process opens up microscopic pores on the surface
of the tiles, these pores will reflect light differently and
therefore you can expect that sometimes you will see a
variation in shininess appearing as a slight haze on part
of the surface of the tiles under certain light conditions.
In the same way slightly varying thicknesses of sealer
may be perceived as variations in shininess. These are
normal characteristic of polished porcelain and should
be expected.
CLEANING
As with any surface, the rule is, wipe off anything which
is likely to stain the surface quickly. I have had polished
porcelain tiles for years and have dropped all sorts of
staining products on them like tomato sauce and red
wine. Because we have followed this rule we have never
had a problem with staining.
The initial clean of the tiles needs to be done really well to
get off any invisible building residue such as grout haze.
If this is not done, the tiles can look dull and dirt can
actually stick to this fine coating. You can buy excellent
products for this from any Beaumont Tiles outlet. This
can be repeated if the tiles get REALLY dirty, but for week
to week maintenance, a lot of people use hot water with
a bit of methylated spirits in it. We just use a dry mop to
get off dust and dog hair and a steam mop to clean. It
works a treat!